Gobble Gobble...

Hope you all enjoyed a happy thanksgiving with your families... we sure did... and boy did we have a list when it came time to be thankful this year...





Including these two little gobblers (Caleb & Aiden)...



And this crazy brood as well (Dane, Brock, Summer, & Cam)...



We have six healthy children to celebrate in our family - our please note that HEALTHY part... every week is another victory!

Our turkies were something straight outta' your local hilbillies guide on how to throw a fan-dangled celebration dinner - fresh from this here local turkey farm - one all pinned up wit stuffing fer da' oven and the other nice en ripe fer fryin'.

Wow. Do we know how to entertain, or what?

We had so many of our family members in town for the holiday and it couldn't have been any better... unless ALL of them could've been here - WE MISSED YOU AUNTIE KRISTY!!! A huge THANK YOU once again to Buddy and Suzy - they opened up their home to us while they were downstate with their own families so that we could all enjoy a festive meal together - without literally sitting on each others laps =) I mean, we're a close knit group and all... but...

ANYHOW - it worked out amazing and we were able to get more pics of the quads with them all alert and HAPPY than we could BELIEVE!! It was rocking - these babies are blowing our minds - cooing, smiling... melting hearts every step of the way! And chillin' with cousin Avery has been a blast! She's our sneak peak into everything on our horizon being that she's only a couple months older than the quads - and she is just FULL of life these days! Love that little munchkin so much!

So thank you all for your comments, calls, and emails about my formula dilemas. I am so very aware that I must come off as a nursing nazi. Oh well - I make no apologizes - but I sure appreciate your advice and "I've been there..." stories! We are now on the GentleEase formula (except Summer... she won't drink any of this formula! Little princess... still gets nursed every single time... bumping out her bro's in the rotation! She's got it figured out, folks... got it figured out) and hoping that everyone will do well on it. Although it seems to me that they are more HUNGRY now than before? Is there some science behind the fact that if it's more easily digested than their bodies process it more quickly and, hence, they are hungry sooner? I dunno... probably just a growth spurt or something - but curious if my mad mama scientific theory held any weight.

We also started doing what my sister-in-law Jess called a "dream feed" (from one of her sleep books I think) a couple weeks ago to encourage this sleep through the night thing. They have been doing pretty darned amazing, considering there is FOUR of them... I mean, usually SOMEONE is bound to get up at night for some squaking - but not ALL of them anymore and we are seeing improvements and setbacks every week - to be expected for sure. So we feed them at like midnight or so to try and get them through to 6 or 7am. And during this feed we are extremely low key - doing our best not to wake them at ALL - no lights, talking, diaper changes, etc. Just feed and burp and put to bed. The best is when their little eyes never even open... like she says... it's all a dream ("dude, did I just eat, or not?"). I will say that there is less pacifier-popping at night when we do this and they seem to sleep more soundly - for the most part (all subject to change nightly - ha!).

Anyhow, during our action-packed holiday weekend we took the whole fam downtown TC for the big Christmas tree lighting (it only took them about 4 tries... think they would've tested that sucker first,eh?) and saw Santa from a distance (pretty sure he was lit up)... and we also baptized the quads that Saturday night... what an amazingly emotional experience. They held the baptism after mass, which was different for us. Both Aiden and Caleb were baptised in Bellaire DURING mass and it was a family-community feeling... and so we were a little unsure how we were going to feel about being at a new church holding the service after mass. But in the end, it was perfect. An intimate, family gathering (several families stayed to see us as well which was nice) that exceeded all of our expectations.

Thank you to our family for being there for us and our babies, it was a long trek for most of you and we want you all to know how much it meant to us that you could all be there with us. Especially the Godparents; my brother, Glenn, his wife, Tracy, my sister in law, Jessica, her husband, Hans, and my sister in law Kristen... the only sadness of the entire event was that Kristy could not be with us as she is studying in Florida (go Gators!) - but we know she was thinking of us as we were of her.

Thank you as well as St. Joe's on Old Mission Peninsula for opening up their hearts and making us feel at home. Thank you as well to the Schramski and Rosa families for letting us borrow their beautiful baptism gowns... no one ever needs to know that we could've fit two quads in each outfit =) It was great...

I am so thrilled that the holidays are here and the snow is flying - YAHOO!!! And being in Traverse is just awesome - Jeremy nor I are having to drive long distances in the mucky roads this year and it's SWEEEEEEEEET!! Although not so thrilled that RSV season is almost upon us and the constant threat of our babies/family getting sick this winter. It's all we can do to keep ourselves healthy (as you know - if you've been to visit - SCRUB UP AND SANITIZE PEOPLE!) - we take no chances. The stakes are too high with our precious preemies - even though they are looking HUGE and HEALTHY! As of last week: Dane: 11#0oz; Cameron: 10#6oz; Brock: 10#2oz; and Summer Girl: 8#5oz!!! WHAT!?!?! We are 4 months old and catching up on that curve the ped keeps marking our progress on - yeah baby!

And now I just wanted to shut up (HUH?) and share with you some snap shots of our babes:

Uh, Brockee? You coppin' a feel with A. Tracy? Sneaky little dude... and all smiles about it!

A progressive pic of the babes playing, and then - POOF - out (except Summer girl - she likes to party on occasion)! Too cute...

All the babies smiling - they will melt your heart in about 4 seconds flat these days!! It is just amazing how quickly they are changing... I need a time capsule to catch it all before it seems like a distant memory...

Summer Girl in her Thanksgiving Day dress glory! Mommy LOVES this dress up stuff! HOW FUN!

Dane - and those big, blue eyes - giving us one of his famous gummy smiles!

Dane (left) and Brockee (right) - light it up Brock! This kid is seriously like a party in a bottle - he is non-stop laughter and smiles!!

Can you guess which one is our adorable Cam? Our little baby face... and look at that dimple!

Big bro Cale reading stories to the babies (Dane, l, and Brock, r) in an effort to cheer them up... wow is he a cutie! Storytime lasted all of 36 seconds before he threw in the towel - but -hey! He tried!

And finally, Summer Girl snuggling up with mommy... these are the times to remember, folks... everyday...